


Love Lost Birds

by FangZeronos



Category: Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, I just want one goddamn ship to sail dammit, They're cute together and I have hope for the new Justice League Dark movie, This is my first DemonBirds thing, Xaphrin got me shipping them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:27:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23867500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FangZeronos/pseuds/FangZeronos
Summary: It's been four years since she disappeared. He's got a letter from her that he never read locked away. When he gets a message from his friends saying she's back, what's a Robin to do but go looking for her?
Relationships: Raven/Damian Wayne
Comments: 3
Kudos: 68





	Love Lost Birds

The rainy and hellishly loud nights in Gotham City drove Damian crazy. In his teens, he’d been a Titan, fighting with the people he had come to consider a family. As much as he bitched to Grayson, and even Drake on occasion, Damian missed the Tower. What made the Tower bearable was _her._ The way her eyes sparkled in silent laughter at something Logan or Reyes would do, the small smiles she would give him, or the way they worked together.

Then she disappeared, days before her birthday with nothing explaining why or where she was. He’d felt her disappearance before not seeing her, and even knocking on her door before bursting in confirmed the empty feeling in his stomach. He had sat in the dark of her room for over an hour, his fingers around a note he’d never read, her handwriting perfectly done on the front of the envelope.

He had called every magic user he knew, from Constantine to Zatanna, even in contact with Tala or even Nabu, but none of them could or would locate her. Two years of looking, trying to find his way into side dimensions, or pocket universes, always being rejected and flung back to the cold darkness of the Tower at the mention of her name.

Retreating back to Gotham and choosing to ignore the Titans worked for a while, but when Kori was around he was forced to talk. Sometimes he despised the Tamaranian, but he could tolerate her for Grayson’s sake.

_“Damian, you know she had to have had a reason to leave,” Kori had said one night on a patrol, her flaming hair sending steam into the air in the rain._

_“Without saying anything? Least of all to you or I? I do not buy it, Starfire. I will not stop until I find her,” Damian said, dropping onto a rooftop and sliding some thanks to a puddle on the roof. He slammed his hand against the wet bricks, anger surging through him. “Why? Why did she leave?”_

_Kori landed beside Damian, putting her hand on his shoulder. With his hood over his face, she couldn’t see his eyes, but she knew talking about their missing friend was troubling him and causing him grief. “I don’t know, Damian. I don’t have the answer you’re looking for. I wish I did, but…she never confided in me her reason to leave,” she said._

_Damian growled, shaking Kori’s hand off as the sound of sirens pierced the thundering skies. He jumped off of the roof, thankful for the distraction._

Deciding to hell with the city, Damian returned to the Batcave, tugging his cape off and pulling his domino mask off at the same time. He changed out of his suit, hanging it to let it dry. “Four months of rain in this godforsaken city. I am starting to wish Freeze would just ice it over and be done with us.” He started for the stairs to the library, deciding to walk to clear his head.

“Master Damian, you know that is not a thing to wish,” Alfred said, looking at the young man as he turned in his chair from the computer. “Oh, Master Damian. You received a message from a Jaime Reyes."

Damian froze, turning back to Alfred. “Reyes? What does the Beetle want with me?” he asked. He stepped off of the stairs, heading to the computer. “What was the message, Pennyworth?”

Alfred handed Damian a sheet of paper with Jaime’s message on it.

_“Hey, Damian,_

_It’s been a long time, and I’m sorry we never got in touch with you in the last few years. Dick said it’d be easier to message Alfred to get to you. You may want to sit down before you keep reading, because you’re going to collapse if you don’t. Sitting down? Good._

_She’s back. She’s been back two days, and she asked us to wait two days to contact you in case she had to go again. She wants to see you, amigo. How quickly can you make it back here? Let me know._

_Jaime”_

Damien’s blood ran cold, sinking into a chair as his knees gave out on him. She couldn’t have been back. He’d have felt it. He’d have felt _her_ again. They were so attuned to each other, he’d have known. “Thank—” he started, his voice thick with emotions. He swallowed the lump in his throat, licking his lips softly. “Thank you, Alfred.” Forcing himself out of the chair, he took the elevator to the library, heading for his room.

Once alone, he set Jaime’s note on the desk before opening a drawer, taking the letter out, his fingers tracing the letters on the envelope. Sitting on the floor, Damian turned the envelope over and broke the seal, his heart hammering his ribs. Pulling the slightly yellowing paper out, he unfolded it and started reading.

_“My Damian._

_I can hear you yelling at Dick and Kori about where I am. Just know that I’m safe so that you all stay safe too. Please don’t hate me for leaving. It’s something I had to do in order to keep Earth safe from my father. I have to go to Azarath, learn from the Monks and hopefully find a way to stop Trigon for good._

_If I know you, you’ll look at this envelope and say that I’m coming back soon and that I’ll be there quick, and you won’t open this until you know I’m home. I don’t know how long this will take, but I hope that you find peace after my leaving. I have loved every minute we’ve spent together, from carnivals and busting up bad guys to just quiet nights watching the rain or fireworks in one of our rooms. I don’t have enough time to write out everything I wanted to say to you, and I hope that once this is over I can say them face to face._

_We’re both going to be different people when we meet again, Damian. I hope you forgive me for not telling you I was leaving, but you’d have insisted on coming with me or protesting and try to get me to stay. I wish I could stay, but doing that would endanger the world, and I can’t lose you._

_I’ll see you again. Just know that, even though I never said it before, and reading it in a letter is not the right way to say it the first time, I love you, Damian. I always will._

_Love,_

_Raven”_

The letter was marked with a kiss, the same shade of lipstick Raven would wear in her suit. “Raven…” Damian closed his eyes, taking a shaky breath as he pressed the letter to his forehead, drawing his knees up. He sighed, feeling like a weight was lifted off of his chest and dropped into his stomach. Looking up as a knock sounded on the door, Damian got up, wiping his eyes.

“What?” he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Bruce opened the door, looking at his son. “Damian? Are you alright? Alfred said you were less bitchy then usual after patrol.”

Damian nodded, explaining about Jaime’s letter and finally opening Raven’s. “I’ll take the jet to San Francisco, meet up with the Titans again. If Raven really is back…I have to go, Father.”

Bruce nodded, putting his hand on Damian’s shoulder. “I’ll make sure it’s fueled and ready for you for in the morning. We can cover Gotham until you get back.”

Damian nodded, sighing softly. “What if this all goes to hell?” he asked. “Raven and I? I…I don’t think I could handle losing her again, Father.”

Bruce smiled softly, sitting on the edge of the bed beside his son. “If you love someone, you’ll fight to keep them. When you found out she disappeared, I got a continuous stream of calls from Jason Blood, Zatanna, Constantine, Doctor Fate, even people like Tala, Black Adam, and Faust saying you were desperate to find Raven. You spent two years trying to find her, and if that isn’t love, Damian, I don’t know what is.”

Damian looked at the letter, shaking his head softly. “I had the answer in my possession the entire time, but I never opened this. I thought if I did, she’d be gone for good. The fact that she’s back, after four years…? I don’t want to lose her again.”

“Then don’t,” Bruce said. “When you see her, you talk. You find out how she’s been, what she’s been doing, tell her what you’ve been doing and how you’ve been. Then you work for your future together.”

_____________________  
  
Leaving before dawn the next morning, Damian sighed to himself as he flew the Batwing toward San Francisco. After eleven hours in the cockpit, thankful he’d had Alfred’s meals to keep him company as well as a book from Grayson, the Titans Tower came into view.

“Batwing to Titans Tower. Requesting permission to land.”

_“Like you gotta ask, Birdboy! Lighting up the roof!”_ Garfield’s voice said.

“Thank you, Garfield,” Damian said, shutting the communication line back off before flying down and landing on the illuminated helipad, shutting the engines off as the landing struts hit the concrete. He opened the cockpit and grabbed his bag and trash, jumping down and letting it close up before he jogged across the rooftop and walked through the door.

Walking into the main living room of the Tower, Damian was hit with the sounds and sights he’d been missing for over four years. Garfield and Jaime were playing games on the massive wall length television, Tim was on the computer and looked like he hadn’t slept in a week. He was the first to look over and see Damian.

“Hey, man,” Tim said, getting up and shaking Damian’s hand. “Good flight?”

“Alfred’s cooking and a book made it more bearable. If I admitted how nervous I was the entire way, none of you would believe me,” Damian said. “Where’s--?”

“Her room,” Tim said. “Asked us to tell you and leave you two be, and only to come running if one of you stormed out and disappeared.”

“Glad to see everyone still listens to her,” Damian said. “Thank you.”

“Good to see you, Damian,” Tim said with a genuine smile.

Damian smiled a little, waving to Garfield and Jaime before heading for his room. He didn’t even pay attention to where he was going, his feet on autopilot before he ended up at his door. He pushed the door open and tossed his bag on the bed, pulling his mask off and changing into civilian clothes before he walked out, sighing as he headed down the hallway. Making his way to Raven’s room, the ethereal raven emblem on the wall. Reaching his hand up to knock, the door slid open.

“You don’t have to knock,” Raven’s voice said, a light turning on and illuminating the room. She was floating over her bed, cloak on the mattress and her legs crossed in her usual pose. Her hair was longer and drawn into a ponytail, her cloak the same but in white, and she’d lost the leggings, leaving her bare legs to the elements.

“It’s polite,” Damian said, walking in and letting the door shut behind him. “Especially after not seeing someone for four years.”

Raven nodded, floating down before letting her feet land on the floor. “You never read the letter, did you?” she asked, meeting Damian halfway in the room.

“Not until last night,” Damian said softly. “If I read it…it would have made it permanent in my mind. I thought if I didn’t read it, I’d wake up and you’d be here. But every day for a year, that dream was always shattered. I couldn’t stand it after two years, moving back to Gotham and leaving all of this behind.”

Raven smiled softly, putting her hand on Damian’s cheek softly. “I thought about you all the time,” she said. She watched him close his eyes and lean into her touch, the tough as nails Grandson of the Demon turning into a gentle giant around her like he always did. “Never went a day without hoping you were okay or thinking about a rainstorm and sitting here watching the lightning, tea in our hands.” She reached down and took his hands, feeling his warmth spread through her. “I missed you.”

“I missed you,” Damian said softly, squeezing Raven’s hands. “Four years and nine months, Raven. Four years I wondered if I’d done something to you, something to make you leave without explaining. I thought you hated me.”

“Never,” Raven said, shaking her head. “I could never hate you, Damian. I left to keep you safe. You and the other Titans. When my eighteenth birthday came, I woke up with a burning on my skin. I knew exactly what it was, and I knew I didn’t have time to explain. I’d written that letter the night before, knowing you’d find it the next day. I packed and left the minute I’d woken up. The burning was my father’s mark, signaling the day arrived I was supposed to destroy the world.”

Damian sighed softly. He didn’t know why, but he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Raven’s waist, pulling her toward him. He felt her arms go around his neck, and he buried his nose against her shoulder, the familiar scent of jasmine and lavender filling his senses. “Don’t leave me again,” he said. “Please.”

“Never,” Raven said softly, tightening her arms and closing her eyes. “Four years was long enough without you.” She smiled, holding tightly to Damian.

After a few minutes, the pair stepped back, Damian putting his hand on Raven’s cheek. “You were right about one thing.”

“Just one?” Raven asked with an amused smirk, cocking an eyebrow.

Damian rolled his eyes and smiled softly. “The letter. Reading it on a page isn’t the same as hearing it,” he said. “I love you, Raven. I always have, and the last four years have been torture on my heart, not knowing if you were dead or alive, or even if you were safe. I’d gotten so used to feeling you around me, that when you disappeared I was empty. I was never satisfied or happy without that connection. Nothing I did filled that hole in my chest.”

Raven smiled, putting her hand on Damian’s and turning her head softly, kissing his palm. “I know,” she said. “I wish I had explained before abandoning you for Azarath.” She took his hand and intertwined their fingers, enjoying his warmth against her skin. “I love you, too. I won’t leave you behind again. Not ever.”

Damian smiled softly, leaning forward and kissing Raven, pulling her against him again and looping his arm around her waist. “Good,” he growled lowly, his tone sending a shiver through Raven’s spine that settled in her hips. “You do, I will not stop until I find you and I will punish you.”

Raven kissed Damian back, her chest heaving from the force of the kiss and his threat of punishing her. “Mm…what did you learn in four years?” she asked with a smirk, backing up toward the bed before sitting down, watching him stalk forward.

“You’ll have to find out,” Damian said, leaning down and kissing Raven again before she pulled him onto the bed, flipping him to pin him to the mattress. “Gotten stronger, my love.”

Raven smiled, straddling Damian’s hips before leaning down and kissing him again, threading her fingers through his. “I also learned some new ways to play with my magic. Nights on Azarath got very boring,” she said, grinding her hips against Damian’s slowly, cocking an eyebrow as she teased him.

Damian laughed, looking up at Raven. “Well. Looks like we’ve both got some new experiences to share with each other.”

“That we do,” Raven said, kissing Damian.

Neither Damian or Raven knew what the future would hold for either of them, but as long as they were together, they knew they could face whatever demons, both figurative or literal, that came their way.


End file.
